"Me either," fairly growled the conductor.

"Why couldn't it have held off a couple of hours more and we'd been
near some place where we could telegraph for help."

"You don't mean to say we are away out on the prairies not near a
telegraph station, do you?" asked an excited man.

"That's just what I do mean to say," replied the conductor. "I've got
to send a brakeman on foot eight miles to wire the news of this
accident."

"You ought to have a telegraph instrument on the train," said the
excited man. "This delay is a bad thing for me. If I don't arrive on
time I'll sue the road. Why don't you have a telegraph instrument on
the train?"

"I don't know," replied the conductor wearily, for he realized he was
now in for a cross-fire of all sorts of questions.

"How long will we have to wait here?" asked another man.

"It's hard to say. The brakeman will go as fast as he can, but it will
take some time to get the wrecking crew here with a new engine, and
then it will take some time to get all the cars back on the track."

"Railroads oughtn't to have such accidents!" declared the excitable
man. "I'll sue 'em, that's what I'll do. What made the piston rod
break, conductor?"